Liam Livingstone spoke this week about relishing the responsibility of batting at No 4 in England’s new-look T20 team, and on Friday night backed word with deed to take down Australia in Cardiff.
As a packed house in the Welsh capital alternated between choruses of ‘Same old Aussies, always cheating’ and ‘Sweet Caroline’, Livingstone provided a soundtrack of fours and sixes, hitting 87 off just 47 balls as England set up a decider on Saturday in Manchester.
With Jacob Bethell cracking a crucial 20 off the 14th over, bowled by Australia’s world-class leg-spinner Adam Zampa, England knocked off their target of 194 – more than they had ever chased to beat their old rivals – with three wickets and an over to spare.
In truth, the margin of victory should have been more conclusive, but England allowed Matthew Short to burgle five wickets with his part-time off-breaks, including Livingstone, bowled with the scores level. But, after a poor performance in Southampton on Wednesday, they were not about to get picky.
Earlier, Phil Salt hit three sixes in a row off the Bournemouth-born seamer Aaron Hardie, before Sean Abbott removed Will Jacks and Jordan Cox, bowled second ball for a duck in the same over.
Liam Livingstone hit 87 off just 47 balls as England beat Australia by three wickets to level the T20 series
He was awarded player of the match after a stunning performance in front of a packed house
But Livingstone, who had top-scored with 37 during England’s 28-run defeat at Southampton, looked in the mood from the start in his 50th T20 international, helping Marcus Stoinis over wide long-on for the first of his five sixes.
And after he completed a punishing 27-ball half-century, Bethell – who had looked shaky at first – got stuck into Zampa, including one mighty slog-sweep over cow corner. It was quite a statement from a 20-year-old playing only his second international.
It also allowed England to gloss over a late wobble, in which Matthew Short’s part-time off-breaks accounted for Bethell, bowled reverse-sweeping for 44 off 24, and Sam Curran, who is still a place or two too high at No 6.
The Australian innings had seen an impressive international comeback by Durham quick Brydon Carse, who recently returned to the game after serving a three-month ban for historical betting offences.
Carse has admitted he has points to prove, ‘to myself and other people’, after he pleaded guilty to placing more than 300 bets between 2017 and 2019 on games in which he wasn’t himself involved.
And he ran in with real purpose in his first England appearance since December, removing the dangerous Travis Head for 31 with his second ball, which measured 91.3mph. Later, he had Tim David caught behind for a single, and finished with two for 26.
On this evidence, it was easy to see why England were keen not just to reintegrate him into the white-ball set-up after 17 games over the previous three years, but to take him on next month’s Test tour of Pakistan.
It was a pity, then, that the only support he received came from the spin of Livingstone, who for the second game in a row did not complete his four-over allocation. As at Southampton, where he was England’s leading wicket-taker, it felt like a mistake. Last night, three overs for 16 made him their tightest bowler.
Jacob Bethell scored 44 for 24 balls – the highest score by an England batter aged 20 or younger in T20 internationals – before being dismissed
Instead, there was more expensive fare from Reece Topley, Saqib Mahmood and Curran, who between them went for 114 from nine overs. Once again, England were slow to adapt to conditions on a sluggish Sophia Gardens surface that demanded clever use of variations.
The main beneficiary of their struggles was Jake Fraser-McGurk, an exciting 22-year-old who reached his maiden international 50 from just 29 balls. It will be the first of many.
Wicketkeeper Josh Inglis, meanwhile, thrashed 42 from 26, including a huge straight six off the unusually expensive Adil Rashid. Curran then conceded 20 off the final over to give Australia a late boost, but Livingstone’s fireworks meant it didn’t matter.
